Shirt with underarm shields and method of making same



Oct. 28, 1969 w. w. ARTZT 3,474,465

SHIRT WITH UNDERARM SHIELDS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed March 27, 1968 mam IN VENTOR WILLIAM W. ARTZT flw A TTORN E Y United States Patent "ice 3,374,465 SHIRT WITH UNDERARM SHIELDS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME William Walter Artzt, 116 E. 68th St., New York, N.Y. 10021 Filed Mar. 27, 1968, Ser. No. 716,570 Int. Cl. A41b 9/06; A41d 27/ 12 US. Cl. 2-113 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A T-shirt or like garment, having itssleeves integral with the body and continuous seams which extend along the sides of the body and the undersides of the sleeves, is provided with underarm shields of polypropylene fabric each made in front and back sections having confronting edges included in the aforementioned continuous'seam at the respective side of the garment and peripheral edges which are also seamed to the body and sleeves, and all seams engaging the shield sections are formed with polypropylene thread.

Where the garment has its body and sleeves formed from a one-piece fabric blank folded about the medial lines of its sleeve forming section, which lines extend along the shoulders of the body and upper edges of the sleeves, the shield forming sections are seamed, only at peripheral edges thereof, to the blank while the latter is flat and, after folding of the blank, the continuous seams are formed along the sides of the body and the lower edges of the sleeves to include edges of the shield forming sections extending therealong.

This invention relates generally to wearing apparel, and is particularly directed to improvedgarments, such as, T-shirts, undershirts, polo-shirts, pajama tops and the like, provided with underarm shields, and to an improved method of producing such garments.

In my US. Patent No. 3,078,467, issued Feb. 26, 1963, it is disclosed to produce a garment of the described class from a one-piece flat fabric blank that includes a substantially rectangular portion defining back and front body forming sections at the opposite end parts thereof and projections extending laterally from the opposite sides of such rectangular portion in symmetrical relation to medial lines which are disposed at acute angles with respect to the longitudinal medial line of the rectangular portion for defining sleeve-forming sections, with the blank having a neck opening which is laterally centered and located between the back and front body forming sections. Such blank is folded about the medial lines of its sleeve forming sections which provide sloping shoulders and the garment is completed by continuous sewn side seams joining together the edges of the folded'blank along the sides of its body forming sections and along the contiguous lower edges of the folded sleeve forming sections.

As further disclosed in the above identified patent, blanks for forming garments in the described manner may be conveniently and economically formed from a flattened, elongated tube of circularly knitted fabric providing two superposed layers of fabric joined at the folded side edges of the flattened tube, and which are out along lines spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the tube and each having laterally extending end portions intersecting the folded edges and a longitudinally extending central portion, with such lines of cutting being arranged to define alternately disposed contiguous and interfitting T-shaped folded blanks therebetween having stem sections extending laterally. Such T-shaped folded blanks, when unfolded, each correspond to a garment forming blank of the configuration described above.

3,474,465 Patented Oct. 28, 1969 It is an object of this invention to provide garments of the described class, and particularly garments produced in the manner disclosed in the above-identified patent, with underarm shields which resist the penetration of perspiration therethrough and which dry rapidly, particularly at body temperatures.

'In accordance with an aspect of this invention, underarm shields for garments of the described class are formed of polypropylene fabric, which fabric exhibits the desired characteristics of resisting the penetration of perspiration therethrough and of drying rapidly at body temperatures.

In accordance with a particular feature of this invention, a garment of the described class having a flexible fabric body comprised of back and front portions and oppositely directed sleeve portions extending laterally from the top parts of the back and front portions and being integral therewith, and continuous sewn side seams joining the adjacent side edges of the back and front portions and the contiguous lower edges of the sleeve portions at the opposite sides of the body, is provided with underarm shields of polypropylene fabric at the inside of the body and extending rearwardly and forwardly from the continuous side seams of the garment along lengths of such sea-ms which are intermediate the side edges of the back and front portions and the lower edges of the sleeve portions, each of the shields consisting of back and front sections having confronting edges joined to the body by the respective side seam and peripheral edges which are also joined to the body of the garment by peripheral seams extending therealong, with both the side seams and the peripheral seams being sewn with polypropylene thread to prevent the travel of perspiration to the body of the garment by a wicking action along the thread of the seams.

In producing garments by a method according to this invention, the shield sections are first joined, by seams along their peripheral edges, to the blank which constitutes the body of the garment while such blank is in its flat condition and, thereafter, when the blank is folded and seamed continuously at the opposite sides of the garment, edges of the shield sections extending along the side seams are included in the latter.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention, will be apparent in the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment thereof which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a garment according to this invention with the front body portion thereof being partly broken away;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a flat fabric blank from which the garment of FIG. 1 is formed, and which is shown with shield sections secured to the flat blank;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of two fabric sections which together form one of the underarm shields in a garment according to this invention; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of an upper portion of a garment according to this invention, with a sleeve of the garment being raised to expose the underarm region thereof which is partly broken away to show a portion of the shield there provided.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIG. 2 thereof, it will be seen that a flexible fabric blank 10 from which a garment in accordance with this invention is preferably produced includes a substantially rectangular portion 11 defining back and front body forming sections 12 and 13 at the opposite end parts thereof and sleeve forming sections 14 defined by projections extending laterally from the opposite sides of rectangular portions 11 in symmetrical relation to medial lines XX which enclose acute angles a with respect to 3 the longitudinal medial line YY of rectangular portion 11. Blank further has a neck Opening which is laterally centered and located partly in front section 13 and partly in back section 12, with a major portion of opening 15 being preferably in front formig section 13 so that, in the completed garment, the neck opening will be deeper at the front than at the back thereof. Blanks having the foregoing configuration may be conveniently and economically cut from a flattened tube of circularly knitted fabric in the manner generally described above and disclosed in detail in US. Patent No. 3,078,467.

As shown, blank 10 preferably has arcuate edge parts 16 which extend from the side edges 17 of the back and front forming sections 12 and 13 to the adjacent laterally directed edges 18 of sleeve forming sections 14. The side edges 17 of back and front forming sections 12 and 13 may converge slightly toward the free end edges 12' and 13 thereof, and such free end edges may be convex, as shown.

In forming a garment 10a (FIG. 1) from blank 10, the latter is folded about the medial lines XX of its sleeve forming sections 14 so that front forming section 13 of the blank is superposed on back forming section 12 to define the front and back portions 13a and 12a of the garment, and each of sleeve forming sections 14 is folded upon itself to define a sleeve portion 14a of the garment. The garment body is finished by sewing together, preferably with a fiat lock stitch, the overlying side edges 17 of the back and front portions 12a and 13a (FIG. 1), the lower edges 18 of the sleeve portion 14a and the intermediate arcuate edge parts 16 so as to form continuous seams 19 at the opposite sides of the garment. The garment may be further completed by the addition of a preferably knitted collarette 20 which is attached, as by a seam, along the edge of neck opening 15, and of preferably knitted cuffs 21 attached, as by seams, to the ends of sleeve portions 140, and by the hemming of the bottom edges of back and front portions 12a and 13a, as at 22.

By reason of the acute angles a between the medial lines XX, about which blank 10 is folded, and the longitudinal medial line YY of such blank, the completed garment 10a is shown to have sloping shoulders. If the acute angles a are between medial lines XX and the portion of medial line YY extending along front forming section 13 of blank 10, as shown, then the completed garment 10a is provided with fullness across the upper portion of its back which affords 6- sirable comfort to the relatively massive muscles across the back of a male wearers shoulders. However, it is apparent that the blank 10 may be cut so that the medial lines XX of its shoulder forming sections enclose the acute angles a with respect to the portion of longitu dinal line YY extending along back forming section 12. With such modified blank, the completed garment formed therefrom again has sloping shoulders, but in this case extra fullness is provided at the upper portion of the front of the garment, as is desired to accommodate the breasts of a female wearer.

By reason of the convergence of side edges 17 of the back and front forming sections 12 and 13 of blank 10, the body of the garment 10a formed therefrom tapers downwardly. Further, the convex free end edges 12' and 13' of the blank serve to provide the garment 10a with desirable tails at the bottom of its back and front.

It will also be seen that the garment 10a is free of any seams in the shoulder areas, which fact not only increases the comfort to the wearer but also increases the useful life of the garment since seams in the shoulder areas are subjected to severe strain and tend to break open. Further, since the sleeve portions 14a are integral with the back and front portions 12a and 1311, the garment 10a is free of the conventional sleeve setting in seams which also constitute areas of discomfort to the wearer and of potential weakness, particularly at the intersections of such sleeve setting in seams and the shoulder seams of conventional garments.

Thus, a garment 10a, as described above, affords a desirable degree of comfort to the wearer, particularly when formed of a knitted cotton fabric which is longitudinally ribbed in the direction of the arrows 23 on FIG. 2 so as to be relatively more yieldable in the transverse direction as indicated by the arrows 24. However, such a garment, as well as any other garment formed of a knitted cottom fabric, has little resistance to the passage of perspiration through the'underarm regions thereof and furthermore, once such urderarm regions are wet with perspiration, the same dries slowly if at all so long as the garment is being worn. In order to avoid the foregoing disadvantages, the present invention provides the garment 10a with underarm shields of a polypropylene, preferably knitted fabric which resist the passage of perspiration or other moisture through the underarm regions of the garment and which dry rapidly, even at body temperatures, by promoting the evaporation of moisture from the shields.

In accordance with this invention, each of the underarm shields, indicated generally by the reference numeral 25 on FIG. 4, is constituted by front and back sections 25a and 25b (FIGS. 2 and 3). The shield sections 25a and 25b are shown to be of crescent-like configuration so as to have arcuate peripheral edges 26a and 2612, respectively, and chordal edges 27 of the same length and configuration which extent between the ends of the respective peripheral edges 26a and 26b and are preferably arcuate so as to conform to the arcuate edge parts 16 which extend between the edges 17 and 18 of blank 10.

In accordance with a method embodying this invention, shield sections 25a and 25b are initially attached to blank 10 while the latter is in its flat condition. Thus, as shown on FIG. 2, front shield sections 25a are disposed on the fiat fabric blank 10 so as to have their arcuate chordal edges 27 in overlying relation to the arcuate edges 16 which extend between side edges 17 of front forming sections 13 of the blank and the adjacent laterally directed edges 18 of sleeve forming sections 14. Similarly, back sections 2512 of the shields are disposed on the flat blank so as to have their chordal edges 27 in overlying relation to the arcuate edges 16 of the blank extending from side edges 17 of back forming section 12 of the blank to the adjacent laterally directed edges 18 of sleeve forming sections 14. With shield sections 25a and 25b thus positioned on the blank 10, the peripheral edges 26a and 26b of the shield sections are secured to blank 10 by sewing therealong, preferably with a fiat lock stitch, so as to form peripheral seams 28a and 28b along the peripheral edges of the front and back shield sections, respectively.

After the initial attachment of the shield sections to blank 10, the latter is folded about medial lines XX of its sleeve forming sections in the direction to dispose shield sections 25a and 25b at the inside of the garment, and the production of the garment 10a from the folded blank then proceeds in the manner described above. It will be apparent that, during such further production of the garment 10a, the arcuate chordal edges 27 of the shield sections which are brought into confronting relation upon the folding of blank 10 and which lie among the arcuate edges 16 of the folded blank are included in, and hence secured to the body of the garment by the lengths of the continuous side seams 19 which extend along the arcuate edges 16.

It has been found that, in order to prevent the passage of underarm perspiration through the shields 25 to the knitted cotton body of the garment, all of the seams engaging the underarm shields, that is, the side seams 19 and the peripheral seams 28a and 28b, must be formed of polypropylene thread. If such seams are formed of a cotton or other absorbent thread, perspiration or other moisture may pass through the seams to the body of the garment, as by a wicking action, to defeat the purposes of this invention.

Although the exact action of the polypropylene shields 25 is not fully understood, it is known that the polypropylene fibers of the shields do not absorb moisture and further that polypropylene has a lower specific gravity than any other fiber, specifically a specific gravity of 0.9 as

compared with specific gravities of 1.32 and 1.54 for W001 and cotton, respectively. By reason of such characteristics, it is believed that, particularly when shields 25 are of a relatively closely or tightly knitted polypropylene fabric, perspiration or other moisture is held against passage through the pores of the fabric by surface tension and, further, since the polypropylene fibers are not substantially wet by the moisture and do not absorb the latter into the fibers, such retained moisture is free to be evaporated rapidly, particularly at body temperatures.

When the blank is cut from a knitted fabric which is ribbed or otherwise formed so as to be more stretchable or yieldable in the transverse direction 24, as described above, the shield sections 25a and 25b are also formed of a knitted fabric which is more yieldable in one direction than in a direction orthogonally related thereto, and the shield sections are oriented, when being cut from such fabric, so that, upon the attachment of shield sections 25a and 25b to blank 10, the direction of such relative great yielding of the shield sections will also be indicated by the arrows 24 on FIG. 2.

Although an illustrative embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to that precise embodiment, and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a garment of the described class having a flexible one piece fabric body comprised of back and front portions having a centrally located neck opening in their top parts and oppositely directed sleeve portions extending laterally from the sides of said top parts, and continuous sewn side seams joining the adjacent side edges of said back and front portions and the contiguous lower edges of said sleeve portions at the opposite sides of said body; underarm shields of polypropylene fabric at the inside of said body and extending rearwardly and forwardly from said continuous side seams along lengths of the latter intermediate said side edges of the back and front portions and said lower edges of the sleeve portions, each of said shields consisting of back and front sections having confronting edges joined to said body by said length of the respective continuous seam and peripheral edges, and peripheral sewn seams joining said peripheral edges of said shield sectons to said body.

2. A garment according to claim 1, in which said continuous side seams and said peripheral seams are sewn with polypropylene thread.

3. A garment according to claim 1, in which said flexible fabric of the body and said polypropylene fabric of the shields are both knitted.

4. A garment according to claim 3-, in which said fabric of the body is relatively loosely knitted cotton, and said polypropylene fabric of the shields is relatively tightly knitted.

5. A garment according to claim 1, in which said lengths of the side seams are arcuate and said sections of each shield are crescent-shaped with said confronting edges thereof being concave to conform to the curvature of said arcuate lengths of the side seams.

6. A garment according to claim 1, in which said flexible fabric of the body is knitted so as to be relatively stretchable in the lateral direction, and said polypropylene fabric of the shields is also knitted so as to be relatively stretchable in the same direction as said body.

7. The method of making garments of the described class comprising, providing a flat fabric blank that includes a substantially rectangular portion defining back and front body forming sections at the opposite end parts thereof and projections extending laterally from the opposite sides of said rectangular portion for defining sleeve forming sections, and that has a laterally centered neck opening located partly in each of said body forming sections, cutting four crescent-like shield forming sections of polypropylene fabric so as to each have a convex peripheral edge and a generally chordal edge extending between the ends of said peripheral edge and shaped to correspond substantially to the configuration of the parts of the edges of said blank between said body forming sections and said sleeve forming sections, disposing said shield forming sections on said flat blank so as to have said chordal edges of the shield forming sections superposed on said parts of the edge of the blank, sewing each shield forming section to said blank along said peripheral edge of the shield forming section to form a peripheral seam therealong, folding said blank about the medial lines of its sleeve forming sections in the direction to dispose said shield forming sections at the inside of the :folded blank, and sewing together the edges of the folded blank along the sides of the body forming sections and the bottom of the folded sleeve forming sections to form continuous seams at the opposite sides of the resulting garment which seams have said chordal edges of the shield forming sections sewed therein.

8. The method according to claim 7, in which each said peripheral seam and each said continuous seam is sewn with polypropylene thread.

9. The method according to claim 7, in which said chordal edge of each shield forming section is concave, and said parts of the edges of the blank are similarly concave.

10. The method according to claim 7, in which said fabric blank and said polypropylene fabric are both knitted materials.

11. The method according to claim 10, in which said fabric blank is of a relatively loose cotton knit, and said polypropylene fabric is of a relatively tight knit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,074,153 3/1937 Netsky 254 2,126,186 8/1938 Friedland 2113 X 2,238,466 4/1941 Gardner 254 3,078,467 2/1963 Artzt 2243 FOREIGN PATENTS 301,647 12/1928 Great Britain.

ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 254, 243 

